This invention relates to a process for preparing roasted, fruit-coated nuts, and is more particularly concerned with the process for preparing roasted, fruit-flavored edible nuts wherein the fruit-flavored coating is sufficient to provide a distinguishable fruit taste to the resulting snacks.
The application of fruit flavors to roasted nuts has been suggested before, such as by Baxley in U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,752; Werner and Finkel in U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,175; and Sharma in U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,833. These disclosures generally teach that fruit flavors or essences can be included in coatings for nuts comprising honey, etc. In addition, Chen, Rizzuto, and Veiga, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,085, describe the production of a cocrystallized sugar-nut product which can contain fruit; and Kveladze, Razdolskii, and Katsobashv have disclosed an apparatus for preparing grape juice coated nuts in SU 1311695.
It is desirable, though, to produce fruit flavored roasted nuts, since consumers find both roasted nut taste and fruit taste to be both compatible and desirable. The present invention, accordingly, provides both of these complementary flavors in a single roasted snack.